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Friday, January 18, 2008

Great news interrupted

As happy as I was for the news that "the lump" isn't going to be cancer, my joy was quickly doused when my mom called to tell me that my mimo's body was shutting down. Thank god for Jeanne's attitude and her mom's help, I got in my car and drove to Louisville, KY Thursday night. When I got to the emergency room, she was semi conscious. Mom arrived shortly after I did and after mom arrived Mimo snapped out of it and became very conscious and stayed that way for about an hour.

During her consciousness, Mimo started telling stories to us in the room and told me that I need to write a book about them. One of the two stories she told me about were about her going to Hawaii (pronounced How y ya, after I got scolded for correcting her, LOL) and going to a luau where the men were carrying bibles. The second story was about the origin of her name Toyce. She told us about some cherokee indian neighbors of her parents (who were also part Cherokee). Toyce was a indian princess name but the couple didn't have a girl so Papa and Mimo Traynor named their daughter Toyce to honor the tradition.

I was glad I was able to spend the time with her. She talked about how special I was, how special Jeanne was and how blessed we were for Paige coming into our life from answered prayers and JD coming right after. I don't know how much longer she will hold on, but at least I had my chance to hear the stories and say goodbye in my own way.

great news

Great news!! no cancer. "the lump" ended up being chronic epididymitis. For now, I just have to stay on my antibiotics until I meet with the Urologists on Feb. 1st. My doctor told me that they will probably put me on an antibiotic for 3 months to try and clear the swelling and infection. I am going to cross my fingers and hope it gets better

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Life Interrupted Part III

I had an ultrasound this morning at Carle Clinic. Overall the hospital was great. I found a parking space right away, the lady at the information desk was very helpful, and check in was easy at the radiology desk. I was whisked back to get out of my pants and underwear but at least they allowed me to keep my shirt on. Some comfort huh? So there I was, walking down the hall in my transparent gown with my long sleeve tshirt, socks and shoes on. I get to the waiting area and go to sit down. I would imagine that the lady sitting across from me got a good "peek" at the franks and beans because I couldn't sit correctly. Luckily enough, I only had to wait for about 3 minutes when my technician comes to get me.

Just what I wanted to see...A 20-25 year old blonde girl escorting me back to the room where her AND another 25-30 year old brunette are going to be doing the ultrasound together. It appears that I am going to be a training model.
Some people pay pretty good money for the kind of treatment I was about to undergo but all I could think of was my future rather than some strangers hands on my privates with no chance of a happy ending. To be fair though, they were both very professional and made me feel very at ease (which isn't easy to do when you are lying on the table with your balls exposed to the world and some girl waving some gooey wand over them)

Of course, they couldn't say anything about what they saw during the exam (which I understand BUT I hate) Why can't they just tell you something there or have you wait for the diagnosis right in the hospital before you go home? So now it's a wait and see game until my follow up appointment on Thursday morning at 9:15am. I think I am going to join Jeanne and go into the denial train of thought until my appointment. If anyone is seeing this at this point, say a prayer for the results. I will need all the prayers I can get.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Life Interrupted Part II

Got into the Dr. right away this morning and she confirmed the news. Urine test looked ok but the lump is not something to dismiss. She has me scheduled for an ultrasound tomorrow (Tues) to get a closer look and then an appt. with her on Thursday for the results. I am beginning to expect the worst. I told my parents about it and my Dad seemed especially concerned. He doesn't show his feelings often so in a way it was nice to see that side of him. Mom is taking it in stride. With her recent stress problems, I hesitated to even tell her about it but since she is a nurse, I knew she could handle it and look at it from a medical side. Jeanne is taking the "ignoring the problem" view. She is definitely concerned, but I don't blame her for not wanting to think about it after we watched her dad die of cancer at a young age.

Myself, I am pretty scared. I know I am catching whatever is going on early so even if it is the "C" word, I am confident I can beat it. After all, I already have
a loving wife and two great kids (with no chance of having any more) so who really needs both testicles right? Besides, like Lance Armstrong joked "I can become more aerodynamic" in my running.


Life Interrupted

The day after my birthday, we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese and had a great time together. The kids were great and JD even won over 200 tickets at one of the games (how?, i don't know either). After getting home, I got to watch my Packers beat the Seahawks to advance to the NFC Championship game.

Then.....Saturday night I started having some pain in my right testicle again. I had thought that pain was gone in December after 2 rounds of antibiotics. I did a self exam and this time there is a lump the size of a grape. I think I may have lost my breath at the time. I immediately had Jeanne examine it and she confirmed it. Nervousness sets in waiting for Monday to contact the doctors office

BTW, sometimes I hate the internet when it comes to the medical field. I did extensive research on lumps in testicles and everything comes up with the worst news everywhere I looked. Oh well, we'll see what the Dr. says Monday

A crazy weekend

I celebrated my birthday on Friday by going out to Agatuccis in Peoria, IL with Jeanne and Eric & Lisa Spires. The pizza was as good as I had remembered and with the low carb diet I have been on, it tasted even better.

After pizza, Jeanne and I went to see the movie Juno. The movie was great. We loved the lead character and the job Ellen Page did with her. Since we are adoptive parents, we truly enjoyed her attitude throughout the movie. After the movie, we met up with Eric and Lisa at a local bar after they got out of the Jerry Seinfeld show. It was great spending time with them and I really enjoyed my birthday.